Pump with spherical pump housing



Nov. 4, 1969 L, A. CHAMBERT PUMP WIl'fl SPHERICAL PUMP HOUSING 5 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Filed Nov. 1, 1967 JWQ Lama KIA- hamber! fly/s r mma Nov. 4, 1969 1.. A. CHAMBERT 3,476,433

PUMP WITH SPHERICAL PUMP HOUSING Filed Nov. 1. 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 FIG.2

J v Lara/l/i-Clm-mberz WWO Nov. 4, 1969 L. A. CHAMBERT 3,476,483

PUMP WITH SPHERICAL PUMP HOUSING Filed Nov. 1, 196'? 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Jm/f/nfh/ United States Patent 3,476,488 PUMP WITH SPHERICAL PUMP HOUSING Lars Axel Chambert, Kallhall, Sweden, assignor to AB Svenska Maskinverken, Kallhall, Sweden, a Swedish joint-stock compan Filed Nov. 1, 1967, Ser. No. 679,713 Claims priority, application Sweden, Nov. 4, 1966, 15,130/ 66 Int. Cl. F04d 1/00, 29/00, 29/40 US. Cl. 415-182 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a pump with spherical pump housing and to a method of connecting the pump engine to the pump proper and the associated sealing.

The advantages of the invention become evident from the following description, with reference to three embodiments shown on the accompanying drawing FIGURES 1-3, all embodiments being illustrated by a cross-section through the pump housing.

The pump comprises a spherical pump housing 1 with a pump impeller 2 of conventional construction placed diametrically in relation to the inlet 3. The pump impeller is driven by an engine 4 suspended below the pump.

The medium. flow is received by the pump through an inlet socket at 3 and advanced to the pump impeller 2 via a passage '5. Said passage extends symmetrically with respect to rotation about the diameter between the point of the pump impeller and the centre of the inlet socket. The passage may be designed as a nozzle, as in the figure, or as a pipe.

The passage 6 from the pump impeller can be designed either as a circular channel or as a circular diffuser, the external limiting surface of the passage 6 being the pump housing wall. The internal limiting surface is a shell 7 which is symmetrical with respect to rotation and the axis of which coincides with the central axis of the pump. According to the design and position of said shell, a circular channel or a circular diffuser is obtained.

A number of guide bars 8 are arranged in the passage 6 for improving the flow and reducing the losses in this portion.

The outlet from the pump can be arranged in three different ways:

FIG. 1: The outlet is arranged in the form of a great number of smaller sockets 9 on the spherical pump housmg.

FIG. 2: The outlet is arranged in the form of an annular channel 10 extending concentrically all around the inlet passage 3.

FIG. 3: The outlet is arranged in the form of a single socket 11 adjacent the inlet 3 and of approximately the same dimension as the inlet.

The pump impeller 2 is connected with the drive shaft 12 by a wedge 13 and retained in position by a hasp nut 14 which is locked by a screw 15.

The drive shaft 12 is guided in a sleeve 16 which is suspended in the bottom socket 21 of the pump housing via a number of sealing rings 17 and a locking ring 18.

3,476,488 Patented Nov. 4, 1969 The locking ring is placed in a groove in the socket 21 and locked by the guide sleeve 16. The locking ring 18 may be designed as an expanding ring or as a split ring.

The housing of the pump engine is directly connected with the guide sleeve 16 and, thus, is suspended in the pump housing 1 via said sleeve 16 and the socket 21.

The lead-in of the drive shaft 12 is further guided to the bottom socket 21 by the locking washer 19 which is retained in position by the bolts 20.

For effecting a suflicient sealing pressure between the guide sleeve 16 and the sealing rings 17, on one side, and between the sealing rings 17 and the bottom socket 21 of the pump housing, on the other side, the overpressure in the pump is utilized. The overpressure acts upon the guide sleeve 16 which presses the sealing rings 17 against the locking ring 18 and the bottom socket 21.

For ensuring the sealing also at low overpressure, the bolts 20 are pre-stressed to a suitable value.

The connection between the pump housing and the pump engine is loosened by removing the locking washer 19 and lifting up the pump engine-guide sleeve, so that the locking ring 18 is exposed and can be removed. The clearance at 22 is made in accordance therewith.

By designing the pump housing in the said way it is possible to utilize the strength-technical advantages of the spherical vessel with respect to the wall thickness. This is of special advantage at very high overpressure in the pump. The smaller wall thickness, in addition to a pure saving in material also results in lower heat stresses, which is of great importance at transient temperature curves of the medium pumped.

Thanks to the different embodiments of the outlet from the pump, the pump has a wide field of application. The selected alternative, at the same time, can simplify that part of the installation which technically borders on the pump.

The method of connecting the pump engine to the pump and the design of the sealing offer certain advantages over conventional constructions. The absence of large boltings difiicult to handle facilitates the mounting and dismounting. In conventional constructions these boltings involve large flanges etc. which give rise to great heat stresses. These problems are eliminated in this new type of connection.

What I claim is:

1. A pump, comprising: a unitary, spherical housing; a 'wall defining an inlet passage means extending from the exterior of the top of said housing, diametrically across the interior of said housing to a point adjacent the bottom of said housing, said wall and the bottom interior surface of said housing forming a pumping chamber and said wall of said inlet passage means having a 'bottom opening adjacent said bottom of said housing; impeller means passing through an opening in the bottom of said housing and having a rotatable impeller with its suction side in open communication with said bottom opening in said inlet means and its discharge side in open communication with the annular space formed between the wall of said inlet means and the bottom interior surface of said housing; outlet means extending through said housing to the exterior thereof adjacent the upper portion of said housing; and connection and sealing means connecting said impeller means to said bottom wall of said housing.

2. A pump in accordance with claim 1 wherein the bottom opening of the inlet passage means flairs 0utwardly and thence upwardly to form a shell generally conforming to the shape of the interior of said housing and an annular space between said housing and said shell, and the discharge side of the rotatable impeller is in open communication with said annular space between said interior of said housing and said shell.

3. A pump in accordance with claim 1 wherein the inlet passage means is of gradually reduced cross section toward its bottom opening.

4. A pump in accordance with claim 1 wherein the bottom of the housing has a downwardly extending socket and the drive shaft of the rotatable impeller is mounted through a sleeve provided with sealing rings disposed in a shoulder circumferentially formed about said impeller sleeve and said impeller sleeve is pressed into fluid-tight engagement with the inside of said socket through said sealing rings.

5. A pump in accordance with claim 4 wherein a looking ring is disposed inside the socket and the sealing rings are pressed against said locking ring.

6. A pump in accordance with claim 4 wherein a separate locking washer surrounds the lower portion of said sleeve and fastening means pass from the impeller sleeve through said washer to permit the application of pressure simultaneously between said washer and the bottom of the socket and the impeller sleeve and the scaling rings against the interior of said socket.

7. A pump in accordance with claim 4 wherein a drive engine for the impeller is fixedly attached to the bottom of the impeller sleeve.

'4 outlet means includes a plurality of discharge outlets through the upper portion of the side wall of the housing. 10. A pump in accordance with claim 10 wherein the outlet means is an annular passage surrounding the upper end of the inlet passage means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 735,692 8/ 1903 Alvord. 2,114,780 4/ 1938 Juelson. 2,887,958 5/ 1959 Davidson. 3,160,107 12/1964 Ross 103l04 3,282,221 11/1966 Kilbane et al 103104 FOREIGN PATENTS 124,621 9/ 1931 Austria.

378,906 8/1923 Germany.

455,092 1/ 1928 Germany.

807,884 10/ 1936 France.

262,458 2/1928 Great Britain.

572,053 9/ 1945 Great Britain.

88,945 8/ 1921 Switzerland.

8. A pump in accordance with claim 1 wherein at least HENRY RADUAZO Primary Examiner the outlet means is a single outlet through the upper portion of the side wall of the housing.

9. A pump in accordance with claim 1 wherein the E US. 01. X.R. 

